


Run That By Me Again?

by mylordshesacactus



Category: Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Polyamory, The Obligatory Polyamory Talk Fic, ft witty banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-14 23:03:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13018038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylordshesacactus/pseuds/mylordshesacactus
Summary: Nope, she decided. This was not happening. And since it wasn’t happening, she was leaving, right now, while there was still time to run from her delusions.





	Run That By Me Again?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sniperct](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sniperct/gifts).



> You gotta write the polyamory talk basically. God though Eugene and Cass' dynamic is SO MUCH FUN.

“I’m sorry, what?"

“I know!” Eugene exclaimed, kicking back in his chair and folding his arms behind his head. “I was shocked too! I thought you hated  _ everything!” _

The table rattled slightly as Rapunzel kicked him. Cassandra’s lips barely twitched.

Oh man. She really  _ did _ have it bad if she was too gobsmacked to enjoy Raps kicking the aimless disaster in the shins. In her defense, this was not remotely how she’d expected the afternoon to go.

The  _ plan  _ had been to finish her mending and then disappear for a few hours of polearms training. Of course, plans never lasted long around the princess; but who could resist those big green eyes, that smile, the warmth and shy hope of a girl who’d  _ always _ had enough love to fill a kingdom and was just now getting the chance?

Accepting a lunch invite from Rapunzel was normal. It had  _ been _ normal. Little personalized sandwiches prepared with entirely too much attention to detail, smiling images of themselves embroidered in the corners of the napkins, Pascal stealing cheese cubes and grapes from everyone’s plates and trying to play innocent...a little overly cute for Cassandra’s tastes, but it was so, so incredibly Rapunzel, and it made her smile. 

Invasive questions, she was ready for. Eugene’s latest hairbrained escapades, she was ready for. Highly treasonous covert plots to smuggle the heir to Corona’s throne out of the kingdom against the express orders of the King, she was ready for and was in fact starting to find pretty routine.

_ So, Cass. We were talking, and...Okay, so I don’t know if this is true and I don’t want to assume, but….well, Eugene thinks you like me as something other than a friend,  _ she was not remotely ready for.

Nope, she decided. This was not happening. And since it wasn’t happening, she was leaving, right now, while there was still time to run from her delusions.

“Whoa! Whoa, Cass, don’t—did I say something wrong?”

She froze. 

_ Ugh.  _ Letting Rapunzel blame herself for this was apparently the one thing she couldn’t quite manage.

“No, Raps, of course you didn’t. I just—look, it doesn’t matter, okay?”

Rapunzel looked hurt.  _ Damn _ it, that had been the wrong thing to say.

“It matters to me...”

Cassandra closed her eyes, ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to hide the fact that it was shaking. She felt like she’d just swallowed a gallon of icy seawater again; cold, unstable, choking, and a little sick.

_ Easy, Cass. _ Rapunzel wasn’t the first pretty girl in her life, she wouldn’t be the first to dissolve into a panic and second-guess every moment of kindness as part of some master plan of seduction. She hadn’t thought Raps would be that cynical, but...eighteen years of abuse and manipulation, the kind of emotional scars she’d picked up and the way she’d been sheltered from anything resembling real life, maybe it made sense.

“C’mon, sit down.” Eugene sounded...more earnest than usual, not quite as mocking as she was used to, and when she glanced over there was something almost understanding in his eyes as he pushed her vacated chair with his foot. “It’s not like I was gonna miss the way you look at her.”

“I don’t look at her!” Cass protested, then winced. “Look, it’s not—I don’t—Maybe, okay? Yes! Yeah, of course I do, but that doesn’t…” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It doesn’t have to change anything, Raps.”

Rapunzel half-stood, looking concerned. “Cassandra—”

“Don’t look at me like that.” It came out too harsh, and Cass backtracked, forcing herself to take a deep breath and consciously soften her voice before she tried again. “Really. I’m fine. Listen, I don’t like Eugene.”

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. “I noticed, but—”

“Let me finish,” she pleaded. Rapunzel blinked, but sat down and gestured for her to continue. “I  _ don’t _ like him, but anyone can see how much you two love each other. Yeah, Raps, of course I love you. I’ve known that for a long time. But I’m not gonna try to come between you two, all right? I mean it. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Rapunzel’s eyes softened with something that looked horribly like pity even as she smiled. Eugene, as always, was unconcerned.

“Please,” he said, carelessly examining his fingernails. “As if you could!”

_ “Hey!” _

“Eugene,” Rapunzel chided.

“Hey, it’s just the truth, Blondie.” He gave a cocky grin and drew two fingers down his jaw. “I mean,  _ look _ at these cheekbones. Have you  _ seen  _ these? That just wouldn’t be a fair fight. Not to mention my, uh, heart of gold and unwavering devotion,” he added hastily. Pascal glared at him from the fruit bowl.

Cassandra grit her teeth and forced down irrational anger. It wasn’t...she wasn’t jealous. She  _ wasn’t _ jealous. She’d never been petty or cruel enough to wish Eugene hadn’t found Rapunzel when he did; she wouldn’t wish another  _ hour  _ in Gothel’s clutches on her. Cass was a realist; if Eugene Fitzherbert hadn’t been in the exact right spot at the exact right moment, Rapunzel would have stayed lost...possibly forever. 

If she sometimes wished achingly that she’d stumbled across it years ago while training, or hunting with her father, it genuinely wasn’t out of jealousy. She just wished Rapunzel could have been rescued sooner, made safe immediately.

But it was more than that. Even at her most desperate, she couldn’t wish that Rapunzel and Eugene had never met.

If he hadn’t been the one to find her, if Maximus or her father had found that tower instead, then they wouldn’t be... _ Rapunzel and Eugene. _ He made her feel safe and whole, and she was the best thing in his world, and they...they just  _ worked. _ He gave her something Cassandra never could. She  _ couldn’t  _ wish that away. She couldn’t even bring herself to try. Even if she couldn’t stand the man, she could never deny Rapunzel that kind of happiness. She’d made her peace with that months ago.

_ “Eugene,” _ Rapunzel repeated firmly. Somehow she’d gotten up and gently hooked Cassandra’s arm before Cass had time to react, and she didn’t have the heart to shake Rapunzel off as she was carefully pushed back into her seat. “You promised to be nice.”

Eugene held up a finger. “Ah,  _ technically,  _ I promised not to scare her off, which I have not done.” He lowered his voice to a stage whisper. “I’m not sure Cassandra can feel the human emotion of ‘fear.’”

Rapunzel rolled her eyes, smiling fondly at him before she reached across the little table and linked her fingers through Cassandra’s.

“I know...you like keeping things close to your chest and everything, and that’s  _ fine…”  _ Rapunzel looked like one of the Guard’s courier horses being forced to stand and wait. Visibly chomping at the bit to get to the fun part, but dutifully holding steady out of respect. It was, as with most things about Rapunzel, hopelessly endearing. “But I really, _ really _ wanted you to know that I love you too, and not like a friend or like I love my parents, okay? And me and Eugene have been talking about it, and if you want to, I think we can make it work.”

Cassandra looked at her blankly for several seconds.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  _ “What?” _

Eugene threw his hands in the air, grinning like an idiot, which he was. “That’s what  _ I _ said! Ow!  _ Frog!” _

Pascal grunted, jabbing his tail threateningly at a second grape as Eugene pressed a hand over his eye.

“All right! I get it.” He gestured toward Cassandra with a flourish. “Go get your girl, Blondie.”

Rapunzel was fidgeting, fingers twitching; she always wrung her hands when she was upset, and only the fact that one of them was holding Cassandra’s seemed to be keeping her from it now. Cassandra squeezed her fingers gently on reflex, and even through her suddenly pounding heartbeat she was able to offer a genuine smile. Rapunzel’s shoulders visibly relaxed.

“It’s okay if that’s not what you want,” she said quickly. “It’s just...I don’t know.” She ducked her head; another unthinking press of her hand from Cassandra came only half a second before Eugene reached out to place a comforting hand between her shoulder blades. “Maybe this is one of those things I’d understand if it wasn’t for, you know.”

“The tower thing,” Cassandra supplied. She was impressed that she managed to get the words out through the sudden dryness in her mouth.

This couldn’t be happening, because it was absolutely everything she’d ever wanted in the world and she  _ wasn’t  _ this lucky. But there was Rapunzel, all soft curves and hope and sunlight, smiling tentatively up at her like  _ Cass  _ was the dream come true.

“Yeah,” she said, and self-consciously tucked a stray chunk of blonde hair behind her ear. “I just think that...if three people love each other, why shouldn’t they have as much of a chance to be happy as anyone else? I know I love you, and I know I love Eugene—I mean, more than I can put into words, both of you. You’re  _ so  _ important to me. And I think we deserve a chance.”

Oh man.

This was actually happening.

It was probably a good thing that there was a sudden spike of intense concern to cut through the lightheadedness, because if she passed out Fitzherbert was  _ never _ going to shut up about it.

“Uh, Raps,” she said, gesturing vaguely between herself and Eugene. “When you say three people who love each other, are you suggesting…?”

Rapunzel blinked, glancing at Eugene and back. “I mean...do you... _ want _ to—”

“NO!”

“No! No, no, no!  _ God,  _ no!”

“Don’t even  _ say  _ that.”

“I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. _ Eugh.” _

Cass didn’t miss the look Rapunzel exchanged with Pascal, but, true to form, their ray of sunshine didn’t let the exasperation get to her.

“Well, good!” she said, clapping her hands together. “At least we know you two don’t have any problem communicating your feelings.”

Cassandra snorted. Eugene gave a theatrical shiver before sitting forward to outline an incomplete triangle on the tabletop with his finger.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m thinking not exactly a circle, more of an...angle. Like this. A really,  _ really  _ obtuse angle. That,” he added with a self-important flourish, placing a hand on his chest and waggling his eyebrows, “is a  _ highly _ intellectual mathematical term referring to an angle greater than ninety degrees, making the two end points very,  _ very _ far away from each other at all times.”

“Really?” Cassandra asked with sugary innocence, batting her eyelashes across the table. “I thought it was because  _ you  _ were in it.” She waited while he grumbled under his breath and made mocking hand-puppets. “You seem pretty okay with this, Fitzherbert.”

“Oh, I still think it’s weird,” he assured her.

She smirked. “What?” Under pain of death, she would not have admitted that she was grateful for his casual, careless ease. It felt  _ normal, _ bickering with Eugene, which was steadying her galloping heartbeat and helping her focus. “Local thief never learned how to share?”

“What? No. Please.” He gestured to his pointy chin again. “Jawline, cheekbones. Flynn Rider has seen some things. It’s just that there are so many  _ nice _ girls in Corona. _ ” _

Rapunzel sighed. “Oh, here we go.”

Pascal heaved a tiny, exaggerated sigh of his own and patted her hand.

“I’m being nice,” Eugene protested. “Hey, if this is gonna work—”

“Cassandra hasn’t even said she wants to try it,” said Rapunzel.

Cassandra sat up straighter. “I haven’t said I don’t!”

“...Then we need to be honest with each other, right?” Eugene continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “I’m just being honest! There’s the baker’s daughter, she’s nice, isn’t she? What’s her name, Angie? Aggie? Mildred? And I mean, there’s Alice down by the mill, Louisa, Frieborg...But no. Blondie decides it has to be  _ Cassandra. _ ”

Cass laced her fingers together to brace her chin on her hands. “Well,” she said. “If Raps had good taste,  _ you _ wouldn’t be here, would you, Fitzherbert.”

_ “Cassandra,” _ said an exasperated Rapunzel.

Eugene waved off the dig. “Ah, she’s always had a thing for cold-blooded reptiles. So, while I may not completely understand  _ why _ Rapunzel’s ideal woman is a pile of ice-encrusted knives that judged me so hard it  _ came to life—” _

“Eugene…”

Eugene held his hands up, and Cassandra was surprised to see that his smile was much softer than she’d been expecting as he sat forward and rested his elbows on the table.

“The point is, I’ve got nothing to prove,” he said simply. “I know how much she means to you, and it’s obvious how much you mean to her. You make her happy, and you...help her in ways that I struggle with sometimes.  I trust her. I know she loves me, and I know...you’ll do what’s best for her. I may not trust you not to eat my soul, but I trust you with  _ her.  _ You give her something I can’t.”

Cassandra couldn’t hide the way she jerked slightly at the phrasing. Rapunzel’s hand in hers tightened in concern, but Eugene either didn’t notice...or understood.

“The same way I add things to her life that  _ you  _ can’t,” he said. “I mean...a lot of things.  _ So many  _ things. Ahem.” He cleared his throat nervously as Pascal hefted a pear. “What I  _ meant _ was...I think we both know there’ll never be another girl like Rapunzel, and you’re never not going to follow her if she needs you, so why not be honest about why? I’m not saying it was an easy couple of days for me the first time this came up, mind you. But I was...there, when things went down with Gothel, and even I only got a glimpse of what it was like for her. For you,” he added, putting an arm around Rapunzel and letting her lean into him. “And...all I know is that if I have anything to say about it, no one is _ ever  _ telling her who she can love or how she’s allowed to show it again. So, if being with you makes her happy, it’ll make me happy. If you can accept that I’m not going anywhere.”

For...most of this conversation, honestly...Cassandra had been carefully avoiding making eye contact with Rapunzel. She knew herself and her own weaknesses, and if she looked Raps in the eye she wouldn’t hear a damn word of this _ extremely important  _ conversation.

But she couldn’t exactly pretend she wasn’t there forever.

Rapunzel’s eyes were exactly as devastating as she’d been afraid of, and she didn’t care. She’d always been warm and soft but there was a stillness about her now, a kind of quiet happiness, that Cassandra had never dreamed would be directed at her. Part of her hated it. Having Rapunzel so close and open and full of light made her feel...exposed. Tender and raw, vulnerable, breathless. It was terrifying and intoxicating and made her want to do and say wonderful things she could never take back. She’d made a living out of taking those emotions, dragging them into a dark alley, beating them senseless with a pipe and then throwing them in a dungeon in the back of her mind to rot.

If she’d gotten to Rapunzel first, she wasn’t certain she would ever have been this willing to...share. Cassandra  _ had _ something to be insecure about. As long as she was  _ different _ she would always, always have something to prove to the world.

But she hadn’t gotten there first; Eugene had. He’d been the one to show Rapunzel what real love and kindness looked like. And maybe that was the way it was always meant to be. Cassandra couldn’t be afraid of _ losing _ anything this way; all she had to do was accept a gift she’d never imagined being offered.

Apparently she’d been silent for a few moments too long, because Rapunzel squeezed her fingers again.

“You don’t have to,” she said with a soft smile. “If you fall in love you deserve to have it be  _ perfect _ for you. I just wanted you to know.”

Slowly, half expecting some dark cloud to gather at any moment and prevent this from happening after all, Cassandra smiled back.

“Okay,” said Eugene. “That’s weird. I didn’t actually know her face could do that.”


End file.
